March 2013

England’s Laura Massaro and Egypt’s Karim Darwish are the happy winners of the KL Open 2013. Massaro beats Alison Waters 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 in an all-English final. The World No3, who had ended Nicol David’s hopes of a 9th KL Open title in the semis, is the 1st Englishwoman, who won in Kuala Lumpur in 15 years tournament’s history.

The men’s final was a repeat of the 2011 edition, an all-Egyptian affair between Karim Darwish and Mohamed El Shorbagy, the top two seeds ranked 6 and 5 in the world. The elder Darwish (31) stayed strong to beat his 9 years younger compatriot 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 to take his 2nd KL Open title after 2011.

After winning both individual titles in the European Junior U19 Squash Championships in Switzerland, favourites England went on to claim the team title in impressive style at the Tennis & Squash Center Sihltal in the country’s largest city Zurich.

The men’s individual event produced the predicted all-English final between the top two seeds Ollie Holland and Richie Fallows. But it was second seed Holland who became the third English winner in a row – and the second in succession from the same club in Nottingham – when he beat Fallows 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.

There was a similar upset in the women’s final when No2 seed Victoria Temple Murray beat Belgian favourite Nele Gilis 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 to become the fifth successive English winner.

England reached the team final without dropping a match – and Holland, Fallows and Temple Murray maintained the squad’s run against France in the final, beating the second seeds 3/0.

James Willstrop collected his 4th Canary Wharf Classic title with a stunning display of quality squash to subdue his England team-mate Peter Barker in the final at East Wintergarden in London.

Barker, the No4 seed from Essex had produced an outstanding performance to beat reigning champion Nick Matthew in the semi-finals, but he was unable to repeat that level of consistency against Willstrop, the world No4.

“This is one of my favourite venues – I love playing in the Canary Wharf Classic,” said Willstrop, who beat Barker 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-4 after 57 minutes of play.

The unstoppable world number one Ramy Ashour celebrated his tenth successive PSA World Tour squash final in sensational style in Kuwait when he beat defending champion James Willstrop in 4 games to take the Kuwait PSA Cup title.

The 25-year-old Egyptian’s triumph, in the 3rd PSA World Series event of the year at the Qadsia Sporting Club in Kuwait, is his seventh Tour title in a row, the 30th of his career – and extends his winning streak to 36 matches since May last year.

The reigning world champion beat Englishman Willstrop, the world No4 from Leeds, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3 to take the victory.

The jubilant champion kissed the court floor in celebration as the crowd cheered their appreciation.

Former internationals Peter Nicol and Tim Garner will contest 7 Squash Matches in 7 Days on 7 Continents in a bid to help raise the profile of Squash’s campaign to join the programme of the 2020 Olympic Games.

The English pair will travel more than 40,000 miles and spend over 70 hours on planes over the course of a week that will be a test of endurance both mentally and physically.

“I wanted to come up with something that would highlight the fantastic bid that Squash is putting together to join the Olympic Programme in 2020 and got thinking about the 7 Marathons Challenge and how that could be adopted,” said Tim Garner, the former World No26.

Nicol, the former world champion and World No1, said: “When Tim approached me about the idea I had no hesitation – well, maybe a little – in saying yes!”

Egyptian World No1 Ramy Ashour mastered the tenacious challenge of England’s Nick Matthew to win the Davenport North American Open for the 2nd time after 2009.

Ashour, appearing in his fifth consecutive final of the PSA World Series squash event, continued his long unbeaten run to take the 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 victory after 65 minutes of high class entertaining squash.

Matthew, who had beaten Ashour in the 2010 and 2011 finals, produced a spirited recovery to win the third game, but Ashour turned on the style again to clinch a second Richmond title.

The 25-year-old from Cairo – both the world number one and reigning world champion – completing his 31st consecutive victory in his 9th PSA Tour final in a row, Ashour kissed the floor and the trophy.

“Nick is a great player and we seem to feed off this rivalry. We have met in so many finals and, whoever wins, the other one gets back to work to raise their game to meet the challenge,” said Ashour.